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Do We Live in a Free Country?

Do we live in a free country?

  • Yes

    Votes: 36 42.4%
  • Nope

    Votes: 32 37.6%
  • Other

    Votes: 17 20.0%

  • Total voters
    85

TheDemSocialist

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We are told we live in a free country. "Land of the free" yada yada yada. Simple question: "Do we live in a free country"?
 
We are told we live in a free country. "Land of the free" yada yada yada. Simple question: "Do we live in a free country"?

"Free" is a range, not an absolute. There are levels of freedom. No country has zero freedom, no country has 100 % freedom. The US is above average in terms of freedom.
 
I do not have the right to keep and bear arms, I do not have the right to privacy, I do not have the right to organize and peacefully protest (see whats happening RIGHT NOW in Ferguson)

No, I'm not free.
 
There isn't an area in all of society that government isn't involved. No, we are not free.
 
I do not have the right to keep and bear arms, I do not have the right to privacy, I do not have the right to organize and peacefully protest (see whats happening RIGHT NOW in Ferguson)

No, I'm not free.

Damn Lachean I didn't know you was a felon.
 
Freedom isn't free. You have to exhibit some courage to keep it. If you let yourself be intimidated or you are too busy and resent investing the time and energy or you expect someone else to defend your freedom, you just surrendered it.
 
Notice something similar about any post a Libertarian makes with threads like these?
 
A thread revolving around an undefined term is a pointless thread.

Define "Free" or this is just a waste of space.

You are all just a waste of space. Pawns in a meaningless game put here for my amusement.
 
Sure we live in a free nation. Free is subjective and as I can pretty much go anywhere I want to go, say what I want to say, etc I live in a free country.
 
That going where you want to is a rarer freedom than most people realize. They also have more rights regarding traveling than they realize or would have the courage to use.
 
We are told we live in a free country. "Land of the free" yada yada yada. Simple question: "Do we live in a free country"?

freer than most-far less free than what the founders intended
 
U.S. Code: Title 49 - TRANSPORTATION | LII / Legal Information Institute

All the legal definitions regarding the language in all 50 state transportation codes is referenced to and defined in USC49. The federal government has authority over interstate commerce.
Not private citizen travelers. All definitions are for commercial transport. Your automobile is NOT a motor vehicle. You are NOT a driver. ect lol
 
freedom-jpeg.5467


America ranked #7.
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Our own power as individuals over our own bodies, our thoughts, our minds, our ideas, and our feelings are constantly being threatened every day.

We are not free to put in our bodies whatever we like. In some cases with threat of life in prison. When someone who is simply in possession of a drug is receiving the same or worse penalty as someone who has committed murder, then we no longer live in a free country.

The drug war in this country has eroded many of what we use to consider rights or freedoms. All for the purpose of preventing people from altering their minds. Which is another form of control... the opposite of freedom.
 
you do have a point wiscosin
tah ta da da tah ta da da tah tah tah tah tah
 
Notice something similar about any post a Libertarian makes with threads like these?

We think we should have even more freedom than we currently have? What an astute observation! I've noticed that liberals tend to side with basic concepts of liberalism in threads concerning issues involving liberalism. I must be as observant as you are!
 
Freedom is about what happens inside you as much as outside. Our culture trains our souls to *not* be free.

Human nature craves freedom, the way an addict craves cigarettes, but it isn't necessarily any better suited to it than lungs are to smoke.
 
Freedom is about what happens inside you as much as outside. Our culture trains our souls to *not* be free.

Human nature craves freedom, the way an addict craves cigarettes, but it isn't necessarily any better suited to it than lungs are to smoke.

I agree with the statements in bold. The rest, I understand how you might come to those conclusions, but I don't share them.
 
I agree with the statements in bold. The rest, I understand how you might come to those conclusions, but I don't share them.

There are two kinds of freedom. The one people talk about most is "external freedom", which basically amounts to having the ability to exercise agency in your own life without being subjected to restrictions from external forces.

Inner freedom means freedom from compulsion. Temptation from within exerts as much influence over the spirit as force from an external power (government, corporation, etc). Our culture of mass consumerism propagates psychological dependence on objects on a massive scale. From an early age, American culture teaches us you don't just don't want money and fame, you *NEED* money and fame. You need a job, you need a car, you need a house, you need to own your own business.

People on Wall Street don't want want private jets and yachts, they *NEED* private jets and yachts as surely as the heroin addict needs his next fix. Junkies will sell all of their furniture, financiers will trash the entire banking system; anything for a fix.

And greed only propagates one species of temptation. There are plenty of others, like dependence on our identity and sense of self. That *NEED* can drive behavior just as strongly as greed and drives much of America's excessive partisanship.
 
Again I find little to take exception to.
If the word NEED was replaced with LUST. then we'd be much in tune.
I know folks use need interchangeably with lust. "I need sex!"
Maybe I'm too much of a stickler for my words to mean exactly what I intend, without room for other interpretation.
 
First world problems.
 
Again I find little to take exception to.
If the word NEED was replaced with LUST. then we'd be much in tune.
I know folks use need interchangeably with lust. "I need sex!"
Maybe I'm too much of a stickler for my words to mean exactly what I intend, without room for other interpretation.

The word *NEED* is appropriate because making a different choice is outside the realm of probability.

Most people don't think about it, but most choice-making occurs at a mostly subconscious level. Even important decisions like whether to go through a company merger that stimulate a lot of thought and anxiety are mostly made in an un-free state of mind. Making a free choice requires expansive awareness and considerable knowledge about yourself, the world, and the nature of reality. You could spend your entire life in a monastery doing nothing else but focus on making wilful decisions and only divert a fraction of your mental power to the process.

In fact, a majority of people surrender their will to the sensation (including computers, the Internet, reddit, youtube, etc) because the senses provide immediate and tangible excitement while making disciplined choices is boring. Having inner freedom is boring, being a slave to your senses is enthralling and great.

Free will is less an attribute we are born with than a tiny instinct that can be developed into a workable skill with a lot of discipline and practice.
 
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